Nutritional improvement for children in poor urban areas of developing countries : transforming community participation : lessons from Latin America

Abstract

Participation was one of the central leitmotifs of the latter 20th century, manifesting itself in bewildering range of guises, and commanding both widespread acceptance and determined critique. It has been defined as the principle that, \"those who will be substantially affected by decisions made by social and political institutions must be involved in the making of those decisions\" (EEC, quoted in Bullock et al. 1988: 630). Far from resolving the issue, this concise definition draws attention to the complexities of participation,as regards the composition of participant bodies, the nature of the involvement, and the impact. These seemingly intractable questions continue to present challenges in practice and inspire theoretical debates.